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I had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours at the state capital Wednesday, January 31.

My motive was to go to the 20th Annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day celebration. My own daughters had been there when they were in high school and had told me that it was, “kind of neat.” After all, since North Branch AD Becky Leuer was getting an award, I had an excuse to go. And, I go after the morning rush hour and return before the afternoon mess. Besides, how often can a guy come up with a legitimate sounding excuse to get out of the office for a while, get away from the boss (probably a plus for both of us) and still get paid.

My original plan was to go there, snap a couple of pictures, listen to a couple of short speeches and get out of the city while the traffic levels were still manageable.

As much as I dislike sitting for very long in one place and as much as I disdain speeches....how bad could it be? Besides, I’d even heard of some of the people who’d be there.

Dorothy McIntyre was gonna be there. She gave the introduction and I’d heard of her. She is now retired, but was the Associate Director of the Minnesota State High School League. To my way of thinking, she’s kind of the Godmother of Minnesota girls’ high school sports.

Andrea Lloyd Curry was scheduled to serve as the emcee. I think I’d heard of her. She’s tall! She was a member of the 1986 Texas National Championship team. She was also a member of the 1988 Olympic Gold Medal team and she played in the WNBA.

Janet Karvonen Montgomery was scheduled to get an award, too. She’s famous! - at least what passes for famous in Minnesota. She scored 3129 points for New York Mills in the late 70’s as her team won three consecutive state championships. From there, she went to Louisiana Tech to play big-time college basketball and has been the host of the Girls’ State Basketball Tournament for the last 20 years.

As impressed as I was by the cast of characters I’ve already referenced, I was more impressed by the five women in the picture. These women played during what McIntyre called “the first era of Minnesota girls high school basketball, 1891-1942.

Marie Wiebeler Keeler played for Belle Plain from 1922-26. Do the math. She’s been around a while.

Luella Bandelin Anderson played for Arlington 1924-28. She said, “We had a lot of fun, but we always played to win.”

Mabel Johnson Erickson (Mabel High School 1927-31) played on the first team in Fillmore County to make the switch from bloomers to shorts. According to Mabel from Mabel, the switch had a positive influence on attendance.

Thea Sletkolen Stay was on the Montevideo team from 1931-35. Her senior year, she personally outscored Montevideo’s opponents by 15 points.

Saima Sarri Savella (say that fast a couple times) played on the Toivola team(1936-38) until the program was dropped by school officials. The local doctor thought basketball was too stressful for girls.

Finally, Marie Tommerson Berg, who is no longer living, played for Grand Meadow from 1929 to 1934. Her teams, and the ones that played through 1939, did what no team has ever done before or since. Over that period, 1929-39, the girls from Grand Meadow went 94-0. They never were beaten. In 1939, the team was disbanded.

About that time, girls sports disappeared from the Minnesota high school sports scene. It did not reappear until the 1970’s. Without pioneers like these women, the Minnesota high school sports scene would look far different than it does today.

It’s kind of hard to imagine how that doctor from Toivola could determine that playing basketball was too strenuous for girls. Girls who were tough enough to be out working in the fields certainly must have been substantial enough to play sports.

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